In their effort to creatively conceal the fact that the KL Draft Plan 2020 grossly violates the ‘National Public Planning’ laws enacted in parliament on population density controls, DBKL has introduced its latest obfuscation called the “private open spaces’, which unfortunately must have been coined to fool idiots. Perhaps they have equally atrocious other tems up their sleeves like “really private public spaces” (this could be your living room) or “really, really private public spaces” (your bathrooms) etc.

This is the sad, sad state of affairs with DBKL.

Ashok Menon

JAC Bukit Gasing

Surprisingly, the part of Bukit Gasing earmarked for 68 bungalow lots has been named “Gasing Indah” in the draft plan, said Bukit Gasing Joint Action Committee member Gary Yeoh

The term “private open space” introduced in the draft Kuala Lumpur City Plan 2020 had experts, residents and environmentalists scratching their heads at the KL Green Lung seminar organised by the Malaysian Nature Society on Saturday at Rimba Ilmu, Universiti Malaya.

A table in the draft plan indicates that the city aspires to increase the ratio of public parks and open space to population (sq m per person) from the current 7 to 11, which is almost double.

The area required to achieve this target is 2,418ha but the total land allocated for public parks in 2020 is 1,882ha (at present 1,543ha).

So, where does the rest of the open space come from?

According to Malaysian Nature Society executive director Dr Loh Chi Leong, the answer he received from the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and the draft plan’s consultants in a recent briefing was that the rest would be “private open space”.

“They said developers would in the future be required to set aside 30% of their development area as open space.

“However, we wonder how is that going to be implemented as these so-called private open space will be private areas, which are not obliged to be open to the public,” he said.

Moreover, the ratio of 11 was still far from the National Physical Plan’s target of 20, he added.

Dr Loh also pointed out that even though the draft plan had listed out the environmental protection zones, there were still more open space in the city, such as those in Hartamas and Damansara, that ought to be protected.

He added that despite the technical complexity of the draft plan, it did not show clearly how much of the remaining 36% open space and unused green areas in the city had been earmarked for development.

“Even though it does not show how much land will be touched eventually, encroachment into Bukit Gasing is already a clear sign to this,” he said.

Residents from affected areas were invited to share their experiences of seeing green lungs raped by unsustainable development.

Bukit Gasing

Surprisingly, the part of Bukit Gasing earmarked for 68 bungalow lots has been named “Gasing Indah” in the draft plan, said Bukit Gasing Joint Action Committee member Gary Yeoh.

“On top of that, even though it is said clearly in the draft plan that areas above 100m of Bukit Gasing would be protected, the planned development will in fact cut through the hill’s peak at 135m,” he said.

More worryingly, the planned development is just next to a 23mil litre capacity reservoir that supplies water to Petaling Jaya and Shah Alam.

The hill’s soil combination of sandstone and shale has been confirmed by academicians as not fit for development and a landslide ocurred last year just at the doorsteps of the Sivan Temple, but all these have not stopped developers from eyeing its lucrative returns.

Federal Hill

To the shock of residents, the stretch of Federal Hill earmarked for the much-opposed development has been changed from an institutional land to commercial.

The piece of “commercial land” will house a police station.

“It is the first time we are hearing of a commercial police station,” said Sri Bukit Persekutuan representative Charles Tan.

Bukit Kiara

Despite having been gazetted as forest reserve, Bukit Kiara has not been spared from damage with some parties chopping down trees and clearing land to create a 25km-long horse trail, said speaker Dr Pola Singh.

Under maintained water points for horses are becoming mosquito-breeding grounds, not to mention a string of consequences of the horse trail such as soil erosion and muddy land surface.

Bukit Sungai Putih

The “death” of Bukit Sungai Putih in Cheras started with the local council secretly de-gazetting the forest reserve that was gazetted in the 1930s.

Speaker Dr Anne Munro-Kua said the residents found out about the “crime” the hard way when a jogger spotted land-clearing and was beaten up by the workers.

Strong protests over 12 years, including lodging complaints with the Anti-Corruption Agency, could not stop the local council from granting approvals to unscrupulous developers.